I have a small (½") tear in my soft top that I'll be patching with a bit of spare top material. What sort of adhesive should I use to attach it?

Candidates are:

• Loctite Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic Repair Adhesive
• Stormsure Flexible Repair Adhesive
• Unibond Repair Extreme
• E6000
• or maybe Copydex, per Wobbly's post.

I've also read talk of silicone adhesive or superglue.

The tear is right where it folds, and I put the top up and down several times a day, so flexibility and strength are both important.

The tear is only a couple millimeters wide, but I also want to fill in the gap from outside after it's patched and I don't want it to look too obvious from outside. Should I use the same stuff or something else? Somebody on here found a kit with some kind of goop that came in different colors and blended it to match, but I can't find that now.

 

I'm using the Locktite stuff now - it seems to last about 3 months before giving out and needing to be redone due to use and wind pulling at it.

 

E6000.

1) sew the rip shut
2) glue on the patch eith E6000

Alternately, use gorilla tape! On the inside. One piece will last a year with many many top folds. And it's insanely easy to replace, obviously. I've had the same piece on my rip since Aug 2013, and it made it though New England winter just fine.

 

Gorilla tape doesn't work at all. Don't even waste your time.

I've used RTV silicon on my patches with moderate success.

 

E6000: how long do you guys hold pressure? I need to glue an oil piece of soft top (spare soft top) onto my current soft top with a small tear that hasn't completely gone through. Tried a test strip (old soft top glued to old soft top) and after a few hours it can be easily peeled apart. Tried both sides, outside and inside.

I am thinking maybe the ambient temperature is not warm enough (23 degree's Celsius).

 

I had a small tear, loctite glued it, stitched it up, then slathered it in some flexible waterproof vinyl glue I had laying around. Seems to be holding up, but in all fairness it doesn't rain much in SD.

 

Hooray for SD! That's how I justified getting summer tires for a daily driver.

Does your fix stand out visually? Are the loctite and the vinyl glue black or clear?

 

They are both clear, and I used black wax coated thread, so it really doesn't stand out, for me it was such a small tear that I couldn't justify dropping $1300 on a new top. Just remember if you are fixing the top to be careful, a bad stitch job could make things worse over time.

 

how does E6000 stand up to the heat? does it soften up enough for the patch to get caught and drag or does it pretty solid once it sets?

 

Black Shoe Goo works good.

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/548...d-maintenance/